VitaminWater Announces $100,000 ‘Scroll Free For A Year’ Contest

Selected participant will have to stay away from smartphone for a year

Can you bid a goodbye to your smartphone for a year? If yes then you can stand a chance to win $100,000.

Vitaminwater has announced an award of $100,000 to a person at least 18 years or older and resides in the United States who can go without their smartphone for 365 days. Participants would be required to exchange their smartphones for a 1996 era calls-only phone that can be used during the contest. Notably, even if the participant survives six months without a smartphone, he/she would be eligible to win $10,000.

Those interested in entering the “Scroll Free For A Year” contest will have to submit a post on Twitter or Instagram explaining how they would use the year if they take a break from their smartphone. The post will have to bear the hashtags #nophoneforayear and #contest. The deadline to enter is January 8, 2019.

The company will select a contestant around January 22. The selected contestant won’t be allowed to use any smartphones or tablets for a whole year, not even those belonging to other people. However, they will be free to use laptops and desktop computers. Devices like Google Home and Amazon Echo are also fine.

At the end of the contest, Vitaminwater will be verifying the contestant’s honesty. Before receiving the money, the contestant will be required to go through a lie-detector test. Whether or not the contestant will get the award money will depend on the lie-detector test result.

“We don’t think there’s anything more boring than mindlessly scrolling through your phone, and this is an opportunity to take that stance against routine and give someone $100,000 to do something uniquely awesome with their time,” Vitaminwater’s associate brand manager, Natalia Suarez, told CNBC.